Hair dye swirls down the drain in hypnotic spirals. It feels like I’m washing away the girl who sat on a bathroom floor crying over a man, the girl who let herself be used, the girl who pinned away her feelings instead of facing them.
I wrap a towel around my hair and another around my body, stepping carefully over the scattered evidence of mytransformation. The mirror is fogged with steam, and I wipe it with my palm, revealing my new self.
“Holy shit,” I whisper, touching the wet strands peeking from my towel. Even soaked, the color is something.
“You look amazing,” Piper breathes from beside me.
The new color makes my eyes look bigger, my skin more luminous. It’s as if the dye has leached into more than just my hair—it’s seeped into my bones, my blood, my resolve.
“I feel different,” I whisper. “Stronger, somehow.”
Once I’ve dried off, I wrap my robe around my body and plug in my blow dryer. The mechanical roar filling the small bathroom. As hot air blasts my new hair, I watch it transform into sexy as fuck dusky pink. It’s exactly what I wanted.
There’s so much I should be unpacking and dealing with. Which I’d like to think the Raven in an alternate dimension is doing. Because this version of me, the one on planet Earth ain’t doing that.
Okay, so it’s not full-on denial. It’s more like… I want tofeelinstead of think.
“‘Cause if you hate it, then you should put a piiiiiin in it,” I sing to myself, reinventing the lyrics to Single Ladies while working the round brush through my hair. “If you hate it then you should put a pin in it!”
My voice bounces off the bathroom walls, slightly manic. I haven’t slept in way too many hours, and everything has the hyper-real quality of a fever dream.
The light through my windows has shifted, afternoon bleeding into early evening as we move to my bedroom.
I try on outfit after outfit, each one more daring than the last. Piper sprawls across my bed, offering commentary that grows increasingly candid.
“Too slutty,” she declares when I emerge in a particularly revealing top.
“Perfect,” I counter, striking a pose. “Slutty is the goal.”
“I thought empowerment was the goal.”
“Who says they’re mutually exclusive?” I twirl, watching pink hair fan out around me. “I can be a sexually liberated feminist icon. It’s called multitasking. Like Lady Gaga.”
Piper chokes on her… well, nothing. “Lady Gaga?”
I frown, realizing that’s not who I mean. “No, you know the one who rode her horse naked.”
“You mean Lady Godiva.”
I shoot finger guns at Piper. “That’s the one.” Despite what I just said, I’m not feeling this outfit at all.
Humming, I lay out the dusky pink latex set on the bed. The microscopic booty shorts and the matching halter top with the ridiculous little collar and zipper running straight down the front.
“Bingo!” I exclaim. “I think this is the winner.”
I step into the shorts first, wiggling them up over my hips. The latex bites and squeaks as I tug them into place, the tiny zipper running right over my crotch daring anyone to even breathe the word subtle.
When they finally sit where they’re supposed to, my ass is technically covered. Barely. I shimmy my hips for good measure, loving the way my ass looks.
Next comes the top, it’s so tight no bra is needed. I slip it over my head and pull it down, arranging the sharp collar so it frames my throat before I drag the zipper up between my breasts. The latex cinches everything in, forcing my tits up so high it feels like a health hazard.
Once done, I turn in front of my full-length mirror, examining myself critically. The two-piece hugs every curve like it was poured on, the dusky pink matching my new hair so perfectly I look curated.
I look like a feverish pink fantasy someone dreamed up after too much tequila and a Barbie marathon. Or fetish. Definitely a Barbie fetish.
The latex reflects the light in obscene little flashes, every movement sending glossy highlights sliding over my skin. It’s plastic, it’s impractical, and it’s exactly the kind of armor I need.
“That’s definitely the winner,” Piper whoops excitedly. “We should go out and show off the new you.”
